MURDERER Oscar Pistorious has celebrated his 30th birthday in a ‘family like atmosphere’ surrounded by acres of gardens and trees, despite being sentenced to murder earlier this year.

Oscar has been moved to a lush low-risk prison, despite murdering his girlfriend three years ago

It is definitely one of the better prisons, a flagship facility

Llewellyn Curlews, Defence Lawyer for Oscar Pistorius

The shamed South African double amputee, who murdered Reeve Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013, won his claim to be moved to a newly refurbished, "more relaxed” prison aimed at “low-risk non violent offenders" and disabled inmates.

Initially placed in the maximum security Kgosi Mampuru II jail - notoriously overcrowded with 8,000 inmates - Pistorius has been moved to Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria, where he now lives among around 1,000 prisoners.

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He reportedly received a tremendous amount of bags full of birthday cards and letters at the prison, so they were subsequently sent to his family who live a few miles away.

His defence lawyer, Llewellyn Curlews said he used to “live in daily fear, refusing to eat prison food because of the bounty” on his head, but this new prison has given him a “very different” quality of life.